"Lawmakers to encourage private airport screeners"

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Lawmakers to encourage private airport screeners 
By Thomas Frank
USA TODAY


Four years after Congress put the federal government in charge of aviation
security, it is about to change course and encourage private security
companies to run airport checkpoints.

Lawmakers agreed Thursday to give airports legal protection if they get rid
of federal screeners and replace them with private companies. The agreement
was reached by a bipartisan committee of House and Senate negotiators after
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., put the lawsuit protection in the final version of
the Homeland Security Department's 2006 spending bill. 

Twenty to 30 airports have balked at switching to private screeners because
they feared being named in lawsuits that might arise from a terror incident,
airport lobbyist Stephen Van Beek said. 

Lawsuit protection "is a big move," Van Beek said. 

Private companies can deploy screeners more efficiently than the federal
Transportation Security Administration, Van Beek said, and hire them more
quickly to avoid staffing shortages that close checkpoint lanes.

But aviation security consultant Billie Vincent said private companies would
weaken security by cutting costs to increase profits.

Some Democrats said the law that put the federal government in charge of
aviation security after the 9/11 attacks was intended to discourage airports
from using private screeners.

"If they (airports) want to bring in the private vendors, I think they need
to provide their own insurance," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

The push for legal protection began over the summer when San Francisco
International Airport said it would stop using a private security company
because of lawsuit concerns. The airport is the largest in a pilot program
testing whether private companies do a better job than federal screeners.
"We're very, very pleased," said Peter Nardoza, lobbyist for the San
Francisco airport, which decided to continue using a private company.

The TSA hires and regulates security companies that staff airport
checkpoints. Private screeners undergo the same training and background
scrutiny as their TSA counterparts and must receive at least as much in
wages and benefits.

Van Beek, the airport lobbyist, said screening companies didn't have such
oversight before the Sept. 11 attacks. "Accountability is a lot higher," he
said.

Vincent said he fears federal oversight and funding will wane over time,
"diminishing the security improvements since 9/11."

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